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For AI To Be Most Effective For Your Company, It Takes The Right People

CMO at JobDiva, world leader in ATS innovation. JobDiva helps companies secure top talent though AI-powered automation—and much more.

Getty

Getty

From augmented reality for onboarding to single sign-in on unified engagement platforms, human resources departments are tasked today with highly complex technology business decisions that will map out their organizations’ futures. The outcomes of these decisions could either secure their positions on the Fortune 500 list for years to come or put them at risk of vanishing from the business enterprise landscape.

When organizations struggle with identifying what drives best-optimized performance, they closely examine their organizational structure and often go through restructuring exercises by switching operating models: applying the centralized model and, a few years after, switching to the decentralized model, then going to a matrix organizational structure, back to centralized, and so on and so on. The so-called pendulum swings back and forth without much measurable result.

My company, JobDiva, focuses on securing top talent though artificial intelligence (AI)-powered automation, and our data shows that the structure is not as critical as the people and their drive to accomplish their organizational and personal goals. Hense, the focus on finding “fit for purpose” and greater emphasis on transforming human resources (HR), not for HR itself but for the enterprise.

Today, it’s clear to me that our workforce as a whole is becoming more and more aware of the impact organizations can make on the community. Contributions to the community may likely be delivered at a greater rate by businesses than by governments in the near future. This puts extra emphasis on creating the right environment for attracting a future workforce.

Conversations around user interface and user experience (UI/UX), customer centricity and high-impact operating models are valid, and ease of use and single sign-on concepts are paramount to successful organizations today. However, in my opinion, the most critical element is the people who will be using these tools. If those individuals are engaged and driven by their inherently high standards and aim for higher achievements, things start to fall into place and technology can begin to be effective. After all, you can have the best tools but those who fail to use them properly or don’t use them at all can drive performance down.

The theme here, as you may have probably noticed by now, is people. And more specifically, the right people.

Your people -- not AI alone -- will continue to drive your organization.

Yes, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics will change how much work is done by people and how much work is automated. But when everyone steps up to the next level of automation and applies the unified engagement platform in their organizations, we will ultimately only achieve speed. Accuracy will still primarily be the responsibility of people, through people’s decisions.

Machines are hyper-rational, while humans can be irrational. I believe empathy -- or what’s been coined emotional intelligence (EQ) -- will become a key quality for HR and business. Key stakeholders should look for this in candidates when planning for successful outcomes in structuring their organizations for optimal performance. In interactions between humans and machines, human empathy will act as a protector of the greater good. It is critical that HR leaders communicate throughout their respective organizations that the role of people still continues to drive the company’s success, and AI is merely a tool that helps automate mundane tasks.

The way I see it, as more and more work will become automated, the need to identify highly capable talent will grow exponentially.